Voters came out in droves for the 2012 election, wanting a chance to make a difference from local to presidential politics. Despite chilly weather, people of Western North Carolina headed to the polls on Tuesday and saw lots of changes in current leadership.

While preliminary results put President Barack Obama winning re-election nationally with both the popular vote and the electoral college votes, he narrowly lost North Carolina with 48.29 percent to Governor Mitt Romney's 50.45 percent of the vote.

Last week, Gov. Bev Perdue issued Executive Order No. 128 authorizing the expansion of the NC Pre-K program to serve up to 6,300 additional children by Jan. 1, 2013. An estimated 1,000 of those children can begin being served immediately in Pre-K classrooms across the state.

On Aug. 21, the North Carolina Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed a lower court ruling mandating that the State not deny any eligible “at-risk” four-year-olds admission to the North Carolina Pre-Kindergarten program.

The N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles has introduced new permanent plates and a new process for their issuance. A new law passed by the General Assembly requires all currentlyissued permanent plates to be cancelled and re-issued under new eligibility rules by Dec. 31, 2012.

Vehicle owners, depending on their eligibility for permanent plates, must purchase either replacement permanent plates or standard “First in Flight” plates by the December deadline. New orange and black plates will replace the current silver and black permanent plates. Beginning Oct. 15, DMV will no longer issue silver and black plates. A one-time $6 fee is required for permanent plates; standard registration plates cost $28-$33.

North Carolinians turned in approximately 8.5 million doses of old prescription and over-the-counter drugs during Operation Medicine Drop events on Sept. 29, according to Attorney General Roy Cooper. That beats the previous record of approximately 7.7 million doses collected during a week of drug take back events held in March.

More than 150 prescription drug take-back events were held in 60 counties by 98 agencies across North Carolina last month.

Among the 11,000 pounds of drugs collected were painkillers such as Hydrocodone, Oxycontin and Fentanyl, all of which can be highly addictive and even deadly if abused.

The SBI gathered the drugs collected by local law enforcement and delivered them to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved incinerator in Alamance County for safe destruction.